THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST

(You can listen by audio and pause the audio to follow page links for important details on these teachings; then resume the audio when you are ready. Please note that I use page links for important details and in lieu of footnotes and references.)

“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.” 1 John 2:18.

These words were written by John of Patmos, (John the Apostle), in or around 85 to 95 A.D. This is significant because John is telling us two important things:

#1. John is telling us that the Last Days or the End of Time had already begun in or around A.D. 85. “From this we know that it is the last hour”. The term, “the last hour”, in the Greek language, ésxatos, means “future things”; it is the root of “eschatology” which is “the study of last things“. This includes future Bible prophecy, the end-times..

#2. John is not referring to the person of the Antichrist, also known as the ‘son of perdition’, ‘the man of lawlessness’, ‘the son of destruction’, when he wrote “Now many antichrists have appeared”. He is referring to the spirit of antichrist,

“And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” 1 John 4:3.

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” 2 John 1:7

I am breaking this study into 2 parts. The first part is about “The Last Hour”, so we can understand the timing and placement of John’s comments about the ‘spirit of antichrist’ and the coming day of ‘the antichrist’. The second part is about the appearing of the Antichrist and what that means for this world.

Part 1. THE LAST HOUR

There is a general misconception about John’s comments about “The Last Hour”. While I was in Bible college, the prevailing teaching was that John said these things based on his perspective at the time. John had seen and experienced persecution by the Jewish Pharisees and had seen his friends, the other Apostles, murdered by the Roman government and that his isolation on the remote island of Patmos had led John to see these as the “Last Days”.

However, Jesus and his disciples, (the Apostles), had been talking about and referring to the period, from as early as A.D. 1, as the “Last Days”.

Hebrews 1:2, “In these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

Hebrews 9:26, “For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

This was written Around A.D. 60.

Acts 2:14, “But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. Verse 15. “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; verse 16, but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

Verse 17. ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says,
‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND;
AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY,
AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS,
AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;”

This was written Around AD 60.

2 Timothy 3:1, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. Verse 2. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, verse 3, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, verse 4, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, verse 5, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

This was written Around AD 60.

1 Peter 1:20, “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you”.

1 Peter 4:7, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Verse 8. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.Verse 9. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

This was written Around AD 60.

2 Peter 3:3, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?”

This was written Around AD 60.

Matthew 24:3, tells us, “As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

‘The Last Hour’, also known as “The Last Days”, “The End of The Age” the “Latter Days” is considered by most traditional churches as a future event and that the beginning of a seven tribulation period will occur with the breaking of the 7 tribulation seals. This has become the dominant view and teaching of many modern fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals since John Darby introduced dispensational premillennialism and a pretribulation rapture around 1909.

However, as we draw nearer to the “The Last Days”, and as we continue to closely examine and re-examine the Bible’s Eschatological teachings in light of the concurrence and convergence of events, the matters of The Tribulation period and The Last Days come into clearer focus.

Matthew 24:32-33 tells us, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: likewise, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”

Knowing about and watching for “the season of the tribulation” which is the fulfillment or the end of these things, can help you know when the tribulation period began and when the “Great Tribulation” also known as the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” will begin, so you can be ready.

I realize these distinctions have been obscured by past misconceptions and that this can be considered as a great mystery, but, it need not be. I am providing a summery Biblical Tribulation Time line and a videos to assist you:

A.1. The opening of Tribulation Seal ONE began between AD 60 and AD 100, and perhaps as early as AD1.

This is confirmed by Jesus and several Apostles in Matthew 24, Hebrews 1:2, Hebrews 9:26, Acts 2:14-17, 2 Timothy 3:1, 1 Peter 1:20, 1 Peter 4:7, 2 Peter 3:3. One of the first, most accurate, and most persistent advocates of the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church can be found at Zion’s Hope, with videos on this site. Finally, in this 21st century, there are a few prominent Bible teachers who are now arriving or have arrived at this same conclusion. (John Piper, and Corrie Ten Boom). Here is a continuing list of Famines: A list of global famines (link)

Seals ONE through FIVE have been broken, progressively, up until this day. We are now standing at the precipice of the breaking of the 6th Tribulation Seal.

A.2. With the breaking of the 6th Tribulation Seal, (also known as the beginning of the Great Tribulation or The Great and Terrible Day of The Lord), we will see that THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31 & Revelation 6:12-16)

A.3. Sometime after the rapture of the church, which occurs at the 6th Seal, the Antichrist enters a treaty with Israel. This begins the seven-year tribulation.

A.4. At the midpoint of the tribulation (1,260 days later), the Antichrist breaks the treaty, desecrates the temple, and begins to persecute the Jews.

A.5. At the end of the tribulation (1,260 days after the desecration of the temple), Jesus Christ returns to earth and defeats the forces of the Antichrist.

A.6. During the next 30 days (leading up to 1,290 days after the desecration of the temple), Israel is rebuilt, and the earth is restored.

A.7. During the next 45 days (leading up to 1,335 days after the desecration of the temple), the Gentile nations are judged for their treatment of Israel.

A.8. The dispensation of the millennium begins, and it will last for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:3, 5–6).

(Below here is a more complete description of the Tribulation timeline. Concern yourself with the first SIX SEALS.)

B.1. The ‘tribulation period of birth pangs,‘ (Matthew 24:8 & Revelation 6), begins with the breaking of the 1st Tribulation Seal and continues through the 5th Tribulation Seal, during which time we will see the

Apostasy,
the great persecution of Christians,
the revealing of the man of perdition and
the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and her enemies.

The 1st Seal of the tribulation was being broken just after the death and resurrection of Christ and the succeeding seals (Seals 2 – 5) have been broken at various periods of time since AD 1 and that we have now entered the time of the breaking 5th Tribulation Seal. Jesus refers to this period, the breaking of the tribulation Seals ONE through FIVE as “the beginning of the birth pangs”, and He points out that “this is not yet the end”.

B.2. Then, with the breaking of the 6th Tribulation Seal, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE DAY OF THE LORD, THE GREAT TRIBULATION, BEGINS. (Matthew 24:29, & Revelation 6:12)

As witnessed by, Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Verse 30. “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. Verse 31. “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

B.3. The “7 years of Great Tribulation” , (aka Daniel’s 70th week), begins with the breaking of the 6th tribulation seal, will reach the mid-point of the tribulation period, (after 3.5 years) with the sounding of the 6th Trumpet of the Great Tribulation.

B.4. Then, the Great Tribulation will end with the pouring out of the 7 Bowls of Wrath.

The Tribulation Judgments lead to the End of the Age. (This article concerns the first 6 Seals).

Here is a comparison between Jesus’ Words in Matthew and Revelation regarding the first 6 Tribulation Seals:

Revelation Ch. 6 – as corresponding to – Matthew Chapter 24

the 1st Tribulation Seal – Global conquest and political intrigue

the 2nd Tribulation Seal – Wars and Rumors of War

the 3rd Tribulation Seal – Famine

the 4th Tribulation Seal – Death

the 5th Tribulation Seal – Martyrs, persecution, Anti-Christ, falling away

The Opening of the 6th Tribulation Seal is the BEGINNING OF the 7 year “GREAT TRIBULATION” period.

The 6th Tribulation Seal – Cosmic disturbances, blood moon, darkened sun

The Trumpet.
The Rapture.
Multitude from the tribulation before the Throne of God.
Sealing of the 144,000.

Watch each of the 5 videos on this page, which explain the Pre-Wrath Rapture and teaching commentary on this subject by Pastor John Piper. Please watch, listen, pray and think.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

Please click here for PART #2. THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST.

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” 2 John 1:7

Video series below:

6 Proofs of a Pre-Wrath Rapture.